Two definitions of a cheerleader are,“an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of someone or something” and “a person who guides or inspires others”. Cheerleaders have the honor and responsibility of creating a strong sense of pride and elevating spirit within their community. Remember back to when you were in school, attending a football game and your team is down by one touchdown. Were the cheerleaders sitting on the side lines twiddling their thumbs or were they getting the crowd hyped up? They were creating positive energy to get the crowd rallied behind their team. That energy then transcends to the players, and they get fired up. The cheerleaders brought everyone together and focusing on one goal… victory. It may not have always resulted in a win but there’s no denying the positive energy that was felt by all in attendance. What happens when we apply that same concept to our team and to our business? We can create a company culture that is a dynamic environment where employees are empowered, supported, and driven to make an impactful change.
Our culture is what can set us apart from our competition. In the home service industry, competition can be literally a stone’s throw away in many markets. How you invest and support in your team can make the difference in an applicant choosing you over the company down the road. Your culture is contagious, it can be felt as soon as you walk through the doors. The cheerleader role can be a vital part of creating a positive and uplifting culture for your entire team: technicians, call center, warehouse, managers and others. Each department knowing they have someone to lean on and rely on is what helps keep your team working seamlessly together. It’s not one department against another, it’s one team grinding and focusing on one goal. When you get your team to that point, you had better hold on because your company will catapult.
Passion for People
My background was in retail management and as an escrow officer at a title company. Customer service has always been a part of my life. People are my passion. In 2010 I began working in the home service industry with my husband Joe. He is a second-generation HVAC company owner, taking over in 2006 from his father. He was running the company pretty much single-handedly when I started. He was answering incoming calls while in the field diagnosing repairs, coordinating crews for residential new construction installs, you name it, he was doing it all while trying to grow the business. The focus of the company at that time was mainly new construction. Joe knew that to grow the business we had to make a name for ourselves in residential service.
I came on board to help build a website, do a little marketing, clean up the software and answer the phones. Our plan was for this to be a temporary gig for me. The thought of working together all day every day seemed like it would be for the birds. Luckily, we worked very well together, and we decided building our business is exactly what we were supposed to do. We joined Service Nation in 2011 to learn from industry dominators on how to grow in the service industry. Also, that same year we added a plumbing division. We built a brand and began making our name known.
We grew our business by 50 percent year-over-year. I had many roles during this time of growth, including office manager, CSR, dispatcher, payroll, accounting, A/P, A/R, recruiting/hiring, psychologist, marriage counselor, day care coordinator, janitor . . . you get the idea. We quickly got to the point of needing layers of management.
Passion for People in Action
As we brought in new employees, I would train and help get them acclimated. I became their go-to person for all the things. I was their support system. I was their cheerleader. My focus was now able to be on the people. I still handled payroll and accounting, but my passion became my people. It was very important for everyone on our team to know the numbers. We all must know the goal, so we know where we’re going, if we aren’t talking about where we are to that goal then we’re spinning our wheels. It was all about the numbers and making sure our team understood what the numbers mean for our company.
I took over the weekly tech team meetings, and began each meeting with a “thought of the day”, something positive to start the day, or to encourage or challenge them, and some were just funny. We shared the individual tech numbers, each department’s numbers and overall total company numbers. We went over where we were to our goal and to what we did last year. We read the latest reviews in front of the whole team. We held contests and bonus opportunities to encourage the techs to get the results we needed. Joe always says what gets rewarded, gets done. We celebrated the wins as a team and discussed the opportunities as a team. It is amazing how quickly your team can come together as one when you share the vision of your company with them, when you include them in the process of how we intend to get there and when you get their buy in. Our growth continued to catapult and in 2021 we were able to sell to private equity. Joe and I stayed with the company and that was mainly because of our people. We wanted to ensure that they were taken care of during this transition of ownership. And that’s really when the cheerleader role took off for me.
The private equity firm that purchased us already owned another HVAC & Plumbing Company about 30 miles away. The plan was to move towards merging the two companies. There were some hard decisions that had to be made during the merger. With two qualified people now in management roles, we had to choose who would be the best for the position moving forward.
We decided to upgrade the other locations software to the CRM we were currently using. We rebranded the whole company. Anyone that has been through a rebrand knows how strenuous that alone is. There were a lot of moving parts. During this time my role in payroll and accounting was assumed by the controller at the other location. My focus was back to the people, again people are my passion. I started each day at one location and ended my day at the other location. I began working with each department manager, making sure they were comfortable with the systems and processes of their department with the new software. I became their cheerleader and their go to for questions and for support. We had a team of technicians who were new to us, and who were being thrown several changes. There was a lot happening, and change is hard.
Ease of Transition
My goal was to help make this transition as easy as possible for the total company. I began leading the technician team meetings for the new location. The company was very divided by department, and they did not come together as one team; they only had a weekly meeting for the HVAC techs and a separate weekly meeting for the plumbing techs. As a result, the air conditioning techs and plumbing techs didn't know each other. Therefore, bringing both departments together as one team was very important to create a positive and uplifting company culture. At that time, we did not have a location large enough to hold all the techs from both locations, but we made it work.
We began to implement and share all the same things we had been doing at our location for the team meetings. I became the cheerleader for the technicians, and that team's growth was amazing. I got to see a plumbing tech walk up to an HVAC tech after the meeting and asked how he sold that much or how he got that many reviews. I had techs sending me a “thought of the day” as they came across something that inspired them. I watched people excel and become more confident in their positions. The departments became one team for that location. The entire company (both locations) knew the vision and goal of the company and they knew we depended on them to pull their weight to achieve the numbers. I encouraged and challenged the techs and became their support system, just like with the management team.
Everyone on the team knew they had someone standing in their corner, ready to help them in any way possible. I always looked at it like this: what’s good for the employee, is good for the customer, is good for the company. Your people come first. The attitude of your CSR answering the phone or the attitude of your tech at the door is very noticeable to your customer. When your team is supported, valued and celebrated, they will put on a show for your customers.
When your customers feel that extreme level of pride and enjoyment from your team, the company automatically wins. The growth and success of your company will happen with the right people. These were not just employees to me; they were our extended family. Pour into your people. Don’t treat your people like a number. At the end of 2023, Joe and I decided to, “retire for now” and we left the company. We started to think we were holding back our management team. They knew the answers to the questions they were asking, they just needed reassurance from us. They needed to gain more self-confidence to continue excel. The vision was still clear, and the goals were known by all. It was time for them to sail the ship. I miss my people terribly and I hope we left some kind of positive impact on all we had the privilege to work with.
When you think about your company, who’s your cheerleader? Is it one person or multiple people? This is not a position you’re going to hire for, I’m not even sure what the ad on Indeed would really look like for that! Start with all your managers, encourage them to be the cheerleader for their department. It can start with simple, seemingly small things. Acknowledgement in front of their peers is huge. If you’re not reading reviews in front of your team then start today. Encouraging with positive affirmations will make a very strong impact on your people and your company’s culture. I may not have always been a ray of sunshine as we all have bad days but even on those bad days there is always something to celebrate. Celebrate every win with your team. Take the time to review opportunities and find solutions together with your team, get their input on how they can improve. Hold yourself and your employees accountable and lead by example. Be passionate about your team and pour into your people!
Tawnya Strittmatter is a Premier Coach with Service Nation. As a Premier Coach, Tawnya works with contractors through Service Nation, to assist them in improving their businesses. People are her passion, and being able to share her experiences in owning a business to help others succeed is very rewarding to Tawnya. Tawnya is also a new member of the board of the Joseph Groh Foundation, and will be taking up the management role previously held by the great Vicki LaPlant who with her husband John will be retiring.